Deputy Doherty has accused the Minister of Finance Michael
Noonan of sitting on his hands while people lost their homes despite this issue
being in the public domain for the last five years.

Deputy Doherty said:

“Three years ago, I sat with a family who were at risk
of losing their home and I learned when going through their loan documents that
Permanent TSB had wrongly moved them from a tracker mortgage to a fixed rate
mortgage.

“I raised this directly with the bank when their
officials appeared in front of the Finance Committee here in the Oireachtas in
2013. Others have raised this issue as far back as 2010.

“Yet in all that time, the Minister has sat on his hands
while some families lost their homes and others were put under undue pressure
to meet increased repayments.

“Minister Michael Noonan was the sole shareholder in PTSB
for the duration of this scandal yet for years under his watch, this State
owned bank ripped off hundreds of customers and even after being exposed fought
to the bitter end to delay redress.

“We have to remember that the bank went to great lengths to
avoid moving their customers back onto tracker rate mortgages including
refusing mediation and appealing every decision made against it in the courts.

“Questions must be asked as to why it was diligent customers
that spotted this rip off and not the Central Bank with its regulatory powers
and why, five years later, we still have no sanctions or fines announced from
the Central Bank for Permanent TSB.

“Once again, the government’s hands-off approach has seen
the ordinary bank customer suffer and unfortunately even lose their home in
some cases here because of a bank ripping them off.

“The Minister needs to account to the 1,372
customers who have been overcharged by Permanent TSB including those who have
lost their homes on why he failed to take action on their behalf.”